Category: I-phone

In this Quick Look, we’re highlighting WakeMeHere. The developer describes WakeMeHere as a location-based alarm clock which wakes you up at the location of your choice! Never miss your train station again due to falling asleep!

Have you ever wished to nap in public transportation without spending thoughts on when to get out? Just set the location where you want to be woken up — WakeMeHere does everything else!

Read on for more information and screenshots!

Screenshots

Wake Me Here

About the App

Here are the top five features you can expect to see in the latest version:

• Easy to use: Set your wake location in seconds!
• Accurate location tracking
• Intuitive drag & drop wake up location and radius setting
• Favorite list and history of your wake locations
• Beautiful retina display compatible interface

Requirements: iPhone with iOS 4.2

Price: $0.99

Developer: Daniel Kiedrowski

Vote for a Review

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I was at lunch the other day with a few friends of mine, and I noticed one of their home screens was setup substantially differently than mine. Where I’ve got apps all over the place, my buddy had two folders in the dock and two apps up top with a gorgeous wallpaper to show off. When I got home, I noticed that my wife had just folders on her home screen, and just the phone icon in the dock. That got me thinking — what do our reader’s home screens look like?

With that in mind, I decided to put it to the test and get some feedback from you, the reader. Want to know more? Hit the jump and find out!

The Situation

So here’s what we would like you to do.

First, take a screenshot of your iPhone’s home screen. Don’t know how? It’s easy, just hit the home button and the lock button at the same time and you’ll hear a camera shutter sound.

Second, go here and enter your name and upload your home screen. Finally, tell us about what apps you have on your home screen and why, then submit the form. Once we have a few submissions together, we’ll put them up here on the site for all of us to enjoy. Who knows, maybe you’ll find a new app or two for your own home screen!

Want an example? Well here’s my current home screen for you to check out:

I go through a lot of apps because of testing, but the only ones that make the home screen are the ones that I use all the time. Some highlights:

Capture — I found this one via Twitter, and it’s helped me out a bunch. It’s so simple, it barely needs a review: Open the app and the video camera turns on. This is perfect for shooting videos of my 18-month-old son. I even caught him planking the other day. Seriously.

Dial Wife — People ask me about this one all the time, and I bought it a long time ago. It’s another one touch app, and this one dials my wife. Easy enough.

Fahrenheit — I live in Arizona, and it gets pretty hot around here — hot enough to cause harm to my kid if he spends too much time outside. Fahrenheit uses the app notification system to display the current temperature, that way I always know at a glance what’s going on. And if you notice that this screenshot was taken at 8:17 pm and it was still 106 degrees Fahrenheit, well then you can probably feel my pain.

That’s it! So go ahead and enter now! Who knows, maybe we’ll even make this a regular thing!

In my never ending search for the ideal GTD system, I’ve tried out dozens of apps for both the Mac and iPhone. Early in my search, I came across The Hit List, and found myself very impressed with its stylish but casual interface and its complete, customizable feature set. Like many other users, I patiently waited for the promised iPhone companion app, only to realize that development on the whole project had apparently come to a halt. Now, over two years later, developer Andy Kim has finally released version 1.0 of The Hit List for Mac, and the much anticipated iPhone app. Was it worth the wait? Read on to find out!

Introduction

Though the iPhone app could be used on its own, The Hit List was originally a Mac app, and the two work best together, so I’m mostly going to look at the iPhone app as a companion to the desktop version.

Like its main competitors, Things and OmniFocus, The Hit List is a fully-featured, powerful GTD app with support for multiple lists, tagging, priorities, and contexts. The iPhone app boasts just as many features and a similarly straight-forward layout. Lets take a look at using The Hit List for iPhone:

Adding Tasks

When you add a task, you can choose how much information you want to add. By default, the add task screen only shows a field for the name of the task, while clicking the down arrow reveals more options. You can select tags, start date, due date and priority, and decide where to file your task.

Adding a task to The Hit List

Unlike a lot of other GTD apps for iPhone and Mac (I’m looking at you, Things), The Hit List allows you to create subtasks. From the Add Task dialog, you can add a subtask by clicking the little plus sign at the lower right hand corner of the screen, or by clicking the regular Add Task button when editing a task.

I like the way The Hit List manages subtasks: when you’re viewing a list of tasks, those with subtasks associated with them have the number of subtasks listed, but they only display when you select the task. In the time-based views (“Today” and “Upcoming”), subtasks are displayed with the parent task.

I find it strange that more apps don't support sub-tasks

Like its desktop companion, The Hit List for iPhone gets the little tihngs right. For example, when you add a start date or due date, you select from a calendar instead of a spin wheel. It’s a simple, obvious feature, and I’m surprised more apps don’t take this approach. When you’re creating a to-do list, you’re generally adding due dates in the near future, so it’s not really necessary to be able to easily change the year or month, and I would rather see a visual representation of upcoming dates.

I find this a much better interface for choosing dates than the spin wheel

Managing Tasks

From the main screen of The Hit List, you can filter apps either by list or by tag, or pull down to reveal a search bar. Clicking Edit allows you to manage lists or tags, letting you set different Sort preferences for each list or tag.

Editing a task list

When you’re looking at a list of tasks, you can use the Edit button to bulk delete, reorder, or move tasks to a different list. This abiltiy to bulk edit tasks is another obvious, useful feature that is missing in similar apps.

Sync

The Hit List Sync is Not Free. I get the feeling a lot of people are going to stop reading right here.

If you want to sign up for the Hit List Sync, it’s going to cost you $1.99/month or $19.99/year. Maybe a year ago this wouldn’t have been surprising, but Potion Factory timed this poorly. With the annoucnement of iCloud, featuring 5GB of free storage, and the multitude of apps that sync freely through Dropbox, paying to sync your iPhone with your Mac is starting to look like a hard sell.

So what do you get for your money? A sync solution that works quite well. Currently, the competition isn’t quite up to the task: Things only syncs via Wi-Fi, with a cloud sync solution still in beta testing, and OmniFocus only syncs via Bonjour or MobileMe, or for free via WebDAV (which I’ve always found slow and sometimes tricky to configure). So is a fast, functional cloud sync solution worth $1.99/month? In my opinion, it is — for now. Come fall, when iOS5 users will be able to freely sync iCal in the cloud, it will be hard to justify, and when Things comes out with its own free cloud sync, that $1.99 will be looking mighty steep.

An Alternative

If you use The Hit List on your Mac, and want to be able to take your tasks with you on the go, you can still sync your tasks via Wi-Fi and iCal. I found a comprehensive write-up on how to sync The Hit List wth your iPhone using an app called 2do. It’s a bit involved, but I tried this solution a couple of months ago and it worked well.

Once iOS5 and iCloud are released, you’ll be able to sync your tasks from The Hit List right to iCal as Reminders.

Conclusion

I feel the same way about The Hit List for iPhone as I do about its Mac companion: I don’t really want to like it, but I do. I don’t appreciate the lack of support, communication and updates from the developer (which have inspired the label “abandonware”), but The Hit List fits the way I work. I love using apps that come with the promise of updates and improvements by developers that communicate with their users, but for me, The Hit List got it right the first time. The iPhone app is nothing revolutionary, but it is well done and works perfectly as a companion to the desktop version. The price is high (though not as high as OmniFocus) and the sync fee is hard to swallow, but I know a lot of people that are willing to pay for a solution that works. For me, The Hit List works.

I’d love to hear some thoughts on this topic, as I know a lot of Appstorm readers count themselves amoung The Hit List’s abandonned early users. How important is the relationship between user and devleoper to you? Can two years of abandonment be forgotten with a shiny new app? Are we all taking this a bit too personally? Let us know in the comments!

Now that we’ve crossed into August, we must confront the sad fact that there’s probably more summer behind us than ahead. We feel your pain and are ready to console you, as always, with a new collection of fresh and wonderful games from the App Store.

Click through to see this week’s picks!

Mad Wheels

Many racing fans were skeptical of the iPhone as a platform, but we’ve been increasingly impressed by the genre’s offerings on everyone’s favourite mobile device, and this week we start things off with another game that reinforces our enthusiasm: Mad Wheels.

For those of you still keeping your fingers crossed for a Twisted Metal reboot that you can carry around, you may want to scramble to the App Store to grab Mad Wheels because it’s likely as close as we’ll get for now. For those unfamiliar with Twisted Metal, you can consider Mad Wheels a combination between Burnout’s vicious racing and Mario Kart/Modnation Racers’ item-based attacking of your opponents. In addition to a very impressive single-player arcade-style battle racing mode, you’ll also find an excellent Wi-Fi multiplayer option.

Mad Wheels boasts smooth controls and clean visuals, plus features a solid variety of weapons and powerups to keep things exciting as you hone your skills alone or with friends. Those looking for a pure racing experience should steer clear, but anyone who likes a good old fashioned car brawler will love Mad Wheels.

Price: $0.99
Developer: NewFX Games
Download: App Store

Gesundheit!

One of the most artistically impressive games in recent memory, Gesundheit! is the latest creation from Konami’s mobile division — this time an all-new, original tale for your iPhone!

There are several things worth noticing about the game. First of all, the hand-drawn artwork is absolutely superb and has a vaguely LittleBigPlanet vibe, though somewhat more papery. A cute original score helps support the vibrant visuals, and the cinematic sequences alone are sweet and unpretentious, making the story an easy one to get involved in. Gameplay is the key, of course, and Gesundheit’s is solid. Controlling a sniffling piglet seeking to rescue his friends, you’ll tap to navigate through the levels and devise clever ways of trapping the large beasts that patrol them. Oh, and you’ll also sneeze a lot and use the boogers you launch to attract the monsters.

Gesundheit is completely charming and we can’t wait to see what the promised updates bring, even though we’re still far from beating all 40 levels that are in the game so far.

Price: $0.99
Developer: Konami Digital Entertainment
Download: App Store

Hedgehog Adventure

One of the unfortunate aspects of the App Store is that it has become so staggeringly vast that it’s not uncommon for some extremely good titles to simply miss the spark that sends their competition into the charts. The gorgeous Hedgehog Adventure is a good example of a game that should be receiving more attention than it has been — we’ll do our part.

A platformer at heart, Hedgehog Adventure combines incredible artistic refinement with a simple and engaging gameplay experience that offers all the usual platforming goodness without any extraneous complication. If you’re more into the old-school jumping and collecting of items, then this is your game. There are two things that do set Hedgehog Adventure apart (besides its terrific art), and those are the seamless level transitions and the physics puzzles. The first is a subtle but surprisingly clever thing: at the end of each level, instead of being tossed back to a menu, a door opens and you simply pass through to the next level. This is an incredibly effective way to encourage you to keep playing, because it’s like there’s no set end. As for the physics, the game brings in a series of blocks that end up serving all kinds of puzzle purposes, which keeps the gameplay from getting stale.

Any way you look at it, Hedgehog Adventure deserves more attention, and we’re sure you’ll agree once you’ve taken it for a spin. Ater all, the whole spinning hedgehog thing has worked pretty well in the past, if we recall …

Price: $1.99
Developer: hare
Download: App Store

Gravity Lab!

Physics becomes the primary factor in this next app. Gravity Lab! is an interesting puzzle game with a tricky but rewarding new take on the idea of physics puzzles.

You play as Steve the robot, and each level requires you to clear a path while collecting 3 stars. The paths are obscured by coloured blocks, and the core concept of the game is that each colour of block responds to gravity differently. Some will fall down, others will fall up, or left, or right — there are even zero-G neutral blocks! This is fairly mind bending at first glance, but once you’ve made it through the initial levels, you’ll get a better sense for how everything works and what kinds of moves you’ll need to use to get all those stars. The controls are very simple: you just pick a direction to launch Steve in and decide how hard you want to fling him based on how far forward you drag in the launch direction.

The game’s engine is fully 3-D too, and you’ll notice this when you manage to hit all three stars because the game will slow down and zoom in dramatically to show the last one being knocked out, which is very cool. And there are plenty of satisfying, brain teasing levels to keep you busy, so if you need something fresh in your puzzle pantry, check out Gravity Lab!

Price: $0.99
Developer: Mobile Snap, LLC
Download: App Store

Groove Coaster

Ending on a sci-fi note, we draw your attention to Groove Coaster. Think of it like AudioSurf for your iPhone with a strong TRON influence and you’ll have a good idea of what to expect going in.

Groove Coaster is a musical beat game, and as such you can expect to need a good sense of rhythm in order to enjoy it. Luckily, we’ve got so many musical games to play that most of us have had our skills sharpened already. The one-touch controls simply require you to hit the beat (sometimes to hold it) when indicated. Otherwise, you’re encouraged to enjoy the evolving landscapes that each stage generates, and the game is excellent about rewarding you for good gameplay. You’ll find a lot of unlockable goodies including new avatars, skins, and music.

We’re a little unclear on whether or not there are plans to include playing to your own tunes down the road, but for now there are lots of interesting tracks included and the game is addictive enough that you’ll be too busy playing to worry.

Price: $0.99
Developer: TAITO Corporation
Download: App Store

What Have You Been Playing?

If you have a moment, pop into the comments below and tell us what your favourite games from the month of July were. We love your feedback and are always excited to hear what great titles we may have overlooked.

Social news is a hot area and it has been for quite some time, with popular startups including Flipboard, Pulse and a multitude of others vying for that coveted spot on your iPhone or iPad home screen. Into the fray comes Smartr, an iPhone app designed to filter out all of those pesky status updates, and cut through the extraneous check-ins and Foursquare updates to deliver you the news stories that you want to read without other distractions.

But is Smartr worth the hype? Let’s find out after the break.

What’s the story?

Smartr is broken up into 3 core areas, the first being the Smartr news area which allows you to view various sources of information, including trending news stories across Smartr; channels for Breaking News, Technology and Gossip; as well as a feed of news from your Smartr friends.

The second area is dedicated to news from your Twitter stream. The Twitter functionality within Smartr is comprehensive, including support for multiple accounts as well as Twitter lists. This ensures that you can both skim stories from all of your Twitter followers or whittle these down by specific interests. Now, the one thing that sets Smartr apart from being just a run-of-the-mill Twitter client — apart from the aforementioned focus on stories — is the way that it handles this content sifting and presentation.

Smartr allows you to follow your Twitter stream or it's own feed sources

The team at Factyle focus on only bringing you worthy readable content that is extracted from shared links and is also stripped of ads. Stories are presented in appealing and easy-to-read snippets that when clicked upon, lead you to the full story in a manner that will be very familiar to fans of apps such as Readability or Instapaper. When you’re in the story view, you can quickly tap into full screen reading mode so that stories can easily be reposted or retweeted (both native and edited) as well as replied to. You can also share to Facebook or favourite the article within Smartr.

The third major area of the app is it’s Facebook integration, which in much the same way as with Twitter, focuses on extracting the most important reading content and presenting this back to you in an easily digestible feed of stories. The Facebook integration again allows for stories to be shared on Facebook or tweeted back to Twitter.

Want more integrations?

A key criteria for me when it comes to most social news apps these days is that they are well integrated with services such as Instapaper and Tumblr which I use heavily, and I’m happy to say that Smartr delivers in this area. Smartr has options for Instapaper and Read It Later, as well as the option to publish stories to both Tumblr and Posterous.

Smartr formats stories for easy reading and allows for quick re-publishing or saving for later reading

Smartr Friends

Smartr includes a section for you to follow your own network of friends on Smartr to see what they are reading. This area in many ways reminds me of the recent update to Instapaper that allows you to follow others and create your own little social reading circle where you easily stay abreast of interesting articles and news from your own close network.

The one shortcoming with this is that it’s highly dependent on getting to a certain level of usage so that people can actually find someone to follow. Although I had four friends on Twitter that read content on Smartr, none of these were recent. The service does offer ten featured users, though I wouldn’t mind seeing more emphasis put on this area, perhaps with improved suggested users or even direct curation of content by the Smartr team until they get more people on there.

In the app you can follow what your own Smart network of friends are reading

Conclusion

Overall Smartr is a great app — not fantastic or spectacular, but certainly good and worth your time and attention to see if it’s right for you. My one main criticism with Smartr is that it does feel sluggish in performance from when you first open the app until you get to a story. I assume this has a lot to do with the app trying to filter out the worthy content from all the other updates and extract it into a readable format. However, I did notice that the most recent update to the app less than a week ago focused on these loading issues.

I think ultimately the app would be a perfect fit for those people who love to follow a lot of content sharers or blogs on Twitter and Facebook, however, I am not necessarily in this category. I admit to being a big devotee of Reeder and getting my content from my Google Reader feeds (which I notice is the most requested feature for Smartr on their community forum).

All in all, the area of social news delivery and curation has yet to be completely cracked and I can see plenty of potential for the team at Factyle to build on the base that they already have with Smartr. This is certainly an app to keep your eye on.

Everyone here at iPhone.AppStorm would like to send out a huge thanks to this month’s iPhone.AppStorm sponsors, for all of the great work that they do. If you would like to advertise on the site, you can purchase a space through BuySellAds.

You could also look into getting a Quick Look submission, which is another easy way to show off your app to all of our readers.

adnX — adnX is a company created in 2001 with the goal of providing innovative applications for Mac. We think that it is the most advanced operating system in the world and the easiest to use. We take great pleasure in building products for Mac and we are committed to creating quality software that will make the Mac even more user-friendly. Since 2008, we are also creating mobile versions of our applications for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Billings Touch — With an intuitive interface and a straightforward workflow process, Billings Touch makes time tracking, invoicing and quoting a simple process.

BAC Alcohol Calculator — No one wants to get hurt by drinking and driving, so the BAC Alcohol Calculator gives you a way to approximate your blood alcohol level, that way you don’t get in a car if you’re unsure of your ability to drive.

MysticForestLite — Get taken away into the magic of a world full of unique living creature-plants. Experience a world where all things have eyes. Go on a incredible adventure and find the magic gems, but be aware of poisonous drops and stings by hazardous plants.

Ideas to Apps — If you want to design your own iPhone app, this is a great place to start. It’s a step-by-step guide to designing your own app, then finding someone to develop it for you.

One More Thing 2011 Conference — Head to Melbourne, Australia on August 13th to see and hear iOS developers talk about how they succeeded in the App Store. Get ready to get motivated!

AppBackr — Are you an app developer looking for funding? Or maybe you’re someone who wants to help out a developer by backing their project, and then make a return on the investment. AppBackr puts both people together, creating a positive way for all involved to make money on an app.

CopyTrans Tune Swift — Changing PCs or switching to Mac without losing your iTunes library? CopyTrans TuneSwift is the easiest and safest way to move iTunes data to a Mac or any PC. Backup the entire iTunes library including iPod Touch, iPad and iPhone backups. Save the latest changes of your iTunes library by using the incremental backup feature. Import the iTunes library from an external hard drive and restore it from previous backups. Anytime & anywhere your iTunes library just a flap away!

Clear Tones — You don’t want to look like everybody else, why would your iPhone/Android phone sound like everybody else’s? Cleartones offers a set of 50 quality “hand made” minimalist ringtones for the serious user. Like yourself.

TeeVlog for iPhone — TeeVlog opens up a new way to experience TV. An EPG based semantic search engine is designed to provide multimedia content related to a TV program or celebrity, including articles, images, and video clips. TeeVlog maximizes your TV viewing experience by providing easy navigation of TV programs and cast/crew information. It also allows sharing of comments and recommendations between friends directly through Facebook and Twitter. TeeVlog minimizes typing by learning your viewing habits and automatically feeding you the most relevant content tailored for you. The more you use the better results you receive.

Summer is here and it’s finally time to forget about work and/or school and hit the road. As you do, remember that your iPhone is an unbeatable travel companion that alone can perform the functions of countless dedicated devices.

We’ve collected 80 terrific travel apps for you to browse through. Check them out and download some indispensable utilities that will help make your summer one to remember.

Trip Planners and Flight Trackers

I always like to organize every little thing for my trips. These apps will help you keep track of all your important trip data, from flight information to travel itineraries and more. You’ll be amazed at how much having all this information at hand puts you at ease.

TripIt – “TripIt Travel Organizer puts all your travel plans right on your iPhone no matter where your travel was booked! Forward travel confirmation emails to [email protected] to build a trip itinerary.”

FlightView Free – “Free Flight tracking app from the leaders in real-time flight information. Track upcoming and in-air flights. Check gate assignments, delays and cancellations and use the attractive in-air map to see a flight’s progress. Save flight itineraries and add your own notes. View a North American airport delay map with radar weather overlay.”

TripAssist by Expedia – “With TripAssist, you can view and update your travel plans-no matter where you booked. TripAssist does for free what others make you pay for – with real-time SMS and email flight updates!”

TripAssist by Expedia

TripTracker – “Get real-time status for flights, real-time itinerary push alerts, live weather reports, route maps, hotel information and car rental information to make your travel a breeze. All your flight, hotel and car rental information “automagically” pushed to your iPhone without having to enter it manually.”

Skyscanner – “Need a cheap flight, fast? Compare over 600 budget and scheduled airlines and more than 700,000 routes around the world in seconds with the free Skyscanner iPhone app; saves money, saves time. Buy air tickets direct from airlines or travel agents and get the best deals. It’s simple, independent and finds the lowest fares with a few quick taps, wherever you want to fly.”

Flight Status (Kayak) – “Flight Status from KAYAK is the best flight tracker… and free! Find and track flights by airline, route, flight number, get gate and baggage claim info and see flights en route on a map with a cool blinky effect! Synchronize your travel itinerary from KAYAK My Trips and keep your flight, hotel, car confirmations and contact info right with you on your phone.”

FlightTrack Pro – “The best flight tracking app out there! Import flight data automatically from any airline confirmation email and get push alerts with real-time changes to your flight. Get real-time flight itinerary updates, and beautiful, zoomable maps that even work offline. FlightTrack Pro has everything you need to stay on top of your trip.”

FlightBoard – “Turn your iPhone or iPad into the Arrivals and Departures board for any airport in the world! FlightBoard lets you check out the boards of your favorite airports and view all the flight information in real-time. We used the board at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris as inspiration for the design so it has a beautiful, old school feel. Download FlightBoard and daydream about your favorite destination. ”

Airport Remote Monitor – “Airport Flight Monitor – right at your fingertips! Flight data updated in real-time – app includes flight status, gate details, share function and baggage claim info. Never have to search for the gate monitor at the airport again.”

TripDoc – “Organize *your* list of places and see everything on one map! Plan and organize your travels like never before. Quickly add your hotel, your restaurants, your activities and your shops. See them all on one map! Get directions, take notes, share with friends, and more!”

Itinerary – “Itinerary is a powerful and easy to use trip organizer. Simply add the places you are going to visit, locate them on the map or add notes to it.”

Itinerary

SplashTravel – “SplashTravel is the ultimate travel companion application. SplashTravel combines four travel apps – Flight Tracker, Expense, Timing, and Converters – into one mega app for one mini price.”

Travels – “Travel organizer, personal guide, photos and memories. Build your own travel guide, fetching places and activities from the Lonely Planet database, or adding your own.”

UK Flight Tracker – “Track all flights in and out of major UK Airports.”

My Vacation – “My Vacation app for iPhone – a complete travelogue in the palm of your hand. Are you planning your next trip? My Vacation will let you plan, document and share your travels with one easy-to-use app.”

Cheap Flights & Hotels

If you’re traveling far from home, finding discounts on flights and hotels is absolutely essential. There are a number of big hitters in this arena so be sure to download a few so you can double and triple check the deals you find!

Hotel Tonight – “Book same-day hotel rooms for up to 70% off in Las Vegas, NY, SF, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Seattle, Dallas, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Denver, DC & LA. More cities coming soon.”

Hotel Tonight

KAYAK Flight, Hotel Search – “The most popular iPhone travel app. Compare flight, hotel and car rental deal, track your flight status, view and manage your trip itinerary, look up baggage fees and access airline numbers and airport info.”

Priceline Hotel & Car Negotiator – “Stuck without a place to stay at the last minute? Give this app a shake, pick the exact neighborhood and star level you want, and save up to half-off when you bid for a hotel.”

TripAdvisor Hotels Flights Restaurants – “Plan and have the perfect trip with access to real traveler reviews, opinions, photos, maps, and forums that can answer even the most specific questions when you’re on the go. TripAdvisor is the world’s most trusted travel site with over 45 million reviews and opinions by travelers like you. ”

Orbitz Flights, Hotels, Cars – “Only Orbitz lets you quickly search and book flights, hotels and rental cars — all within the Orbitz app for iPhone. You can also view your trips, check flight status and find hotels near your current location using your phone’s GPS.”

Expedia Hotels – “Expedia Hotels is the easiest and quickest way to find and book hotels on your iPhone. In just 4 taps, you can book from over 130,000 hotels all over the world. It’s everything you already love about booking hotels with Expedia, but streamlined for your phone. Booking a room just got a whole lot easier. ”

Momondo Flight Search – “Search and compare cheap fares from more than 800 travel sites and airlines. Take advantage of the Web’s most comprehensive meta-search engine for flights directly on your iPhone, iPod or iPad!”

Momondo Flight Search

Travelocity – “Travel shopping and tools while you’re on the go”

HotelPal – “Download HotelPal for free to browse and book from over 100,000 hotels worldwide. It’s the best way to find and book the perfect hotel on the go. ”

Hipmunk Flight Search – “Hipmunk takes the agony out of flight search. With Hipmunk you’ll see all the relevant flights on a timeline, helping you visualize the right choice. Unlike every other app out there, Hipmunk doesn’t just show you the cheapest flight first — the app instead sorts by ‘agony,’ which incorporates important factors like how long you’ll be traveling and how many stops you’ll make.”

Airline Apps

If you’re like me, you have only one or two airlines that you ever use. It’s useful to download that airline’s app you can check in, book flights, etc. without all the noise from competing offers.

Southwest Airlines – “Traveling with Southwest Airlines is now even more convenient with our first iPhone app. Make reservations, check in for flights, and access your Rapid Rewards account directly from your iPhone. Plus, our iPhone app has DING! functionality built in, giving you instant access to exclusive, limited-time-only air fare deals. When a DING! fare is made available, you’ll be notified immediately on your iPhone.”

Southwest Airlines

American Airlines – “Introducing the travel app that understands who you are and where you’re going. From where you’re departing and from what gate. Where you’ll sit and even where you are on the standby list. Simply swipe and tap your way through your personalized American Airlines travel information with the app that’s perfect for flying through airports.”

Fly Delta – “Designed to make flying Delta Air Lines even more convenient and rewarding, this free travel app helps you take care of key travel tasks on the go.”

Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Mobile App – “Traveling with Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air just got easier with our new iPhone app. Access to our most popular features is available wherever you go, making your travel experience easy and accessible.”

Continental Airlines – “Continental is proud to introduce our new Travel App for iOS devices. The Continental App is designed to keep the travel information you need up front and at your fingertips.”

Restaurant and City Search

Whether you’ll be in a brand new city this summer or chilling in your home town, it’s time to get out and explore like never before! Use these awesome utilities to find all the best places around you.

Yelp – “Looking for a burrito joint open now? An Irish pub nearby? A gas station you can drive to before your tank hits empty? Yelp for your iPhone is here to help. Use us to search for places to eat, shop, drink, relax and play then read reviews from an active community of locals in the know.”

Urbanspoon – “Can’t decide where to eat? Urbanspoon can help. Shake your iPhone and the Urbanspoon slot machine will pick a good restaurant for you to try. See what’s nearby to explore your ‘hood in list or map mode. See what your friends like. Browse a comprehensive list of restaurants.”

OpenTable – “Restaurant Reservations – Free, Instant, Confirmed. With OpenTable for iPhone you can make free restaurant reservations at more than 15,000 OpenTable-enabled restaurants in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom. Plus, OpenTable members earn valuable Dining Rewards Points redeemable for Dining Cheques good at any OpenTable restaurant.”

OpenTable

Google Places – “Google Places helps you discover nearby places you’ll love. Quickly search for Restaurants, Cafes, Bars and other places, while on the go.”

Happy Hours – “Happy Hours, the USA’s premier happy hour guide, shows all of the food and drink specials going on near you. Click through to see a photo of the bar or restaurant, and details such as the menu, location, amenities, and what other people have to say. Our happy hour ranks are based on the community, so don’t forget to vote up your favorite spots. Happy Hours is powered by GoTime.com and many of the nation’s top print and web publications including the Village Voice, LA Weekly and Phoenix New Times.”

Happy Hour Finder – “Whether you want to save money while traveling, enjoy a cheap outing with friends or just find a drinking hole where you can get more bang for your buck, Happy Hour Finder can help. This quick and easy app can point out the closest happy hours, and its nationwide coverage makes Happy Hour Finder the perfect travel companion, too.”

LocalEats – “Critically acclaimed dining app with Top 100 picks by city, hundreds of other local favorites, coupons and dining savings. Filter restaurants by cuisine, neighborhood, features, price range and hours.”

AroundMe – “AroundMe quickly identifies your position and allows you to choose the nearest Bank, Bar, Gas Station, Hospital, Hotel, Movie Theatre, Restaurant, Supermarket, Theatre and Taxi. AroundMe shows you a complete list of all the businesses in the category you have tapped on along with the distance from where you are.”

Foodspotting – “Foodspotting is a visual guide to good food and where to find it. Instead of reviewing restaurants, you can find and share where to find your favorite dishes using photos.”

Foodspotting

Citysearch – “Need to find a local bar that adds enough mint to your mojito or that hidden Italian cafe across town? Mobile by Citysearch will help you explore your neighborhood from the palm of your hand! Whether it’s a restaurant, bar, spa or shopping you need, Mobile by Citysearch has the answer. We offer access to local business listings, reviews and ratings, maps, and more whether you’re exploring a new neighborhood or right in your own backyard. And even better: it’s all for free.”

FastFood – “This app will save you money, let you find all kind of restaurants, give you nutritional info, restaurant menu’s, reviews, ratings and deals. Use FastFood to find restaurants nearest you with a single tap!”

Localscope – “Localscope is your social data powered GPS app. Always know where you are and what’s around you with Localscope!”

WHERE – “Discover your next favorite place… on WHERE!”

Navigation

If you’re driving in unfamiliar places, a GPS app is definitely a necessity. Some are fairly expensive but others provide a lot of amazing features at little to no cost so be sure to check out the affordable options before going with one of the big guys.

Google Earth – “Hold the world in the palm of your hand. With Google Earth for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, you can fly to far corners of the planet with just the swipe of a finger. Explore the same global satellite and aerial imagery available in the desktop version of Google Earth, including high-resolution imagery for over half of the world’s population and a third of the world’s land mass. ”

Google Earth

AllTrails – “AllTrails is THE app for finding trails nearest you. Going on a trip to a national park? Looking for a place near home to hike or run? Looking for something new to do on the weekends? Even in a big city you might be surprised by how much nature surrounds you. Browse through over 40,000 high-quality trail guides for outdoor activities including everything from hiking and mountain biking to fly fishing and snowshoeing. ”

MapQuest 4 Mobile – “Why pay for a navigation device when you can get free Voice-Guided, Turn-by-Turn Directions right from your iPhone? Plus, you get the same trusted directions that you’ve come to rely on from MapQuest.com. Millions of others have already downloaded it, so why not try it? ”

Waze – “Waze is a free social traffic and navigation app that uses real-time road reports from drivers nearby to save commuting time and improve your everyday driving. Way more than just another free navigation app, waze’s social layer is what sets it apart – giving drivers the power to work together to report and receive the most relevant traffic information available at any given moment. Plus, it actually makes commuting a whole lotta fun”

MotionX-GPS – “MotionX-GPS Drive turns your iPhone into the next-generation car and pedestrian navigation solution with new features not yet seen on mobile devices, including “door-to-door” personal navigation tools, user interface innovations to simplify the navigation experience, and live search. The advanced MotionX Find-N-Go technology lets you find anything, anywhere. Then just follow the directions. Driving or Walking. It’s that simple.”

TomTom – “TomTom’s patented mapping and routing intelligence is at the core of the TomTom App. TomTom is known the world over for the accuracy and extensive coverage of its maps. TomTom maps have been rated highest in terms of quality and reliability. No mobile signal or data plan is required to browse your map and navigate to your destination. And, only TomTom offers IQ Routes, which evaluates routes based on actual traffic speeds rather than posted speed limits, and recommends the fastest route based on the time of the day.”

Garmin StreetPilot – “Download Garmin StreetPilot and get Garmin navigation, similar to the premium features on Garmin’s renowned nüvi personal navigators. Designed exclusively for your iPhone or iPad, this application works on both 3G and EDGE networks and turns your device into a GPS navigator with turn-by-turn voice-prompted directions. ”

City Maps 2Go – “City Maps 2Go is the perfect Offline-App for travelers and people on the move! Ideal for iPod Touch, iPad and iPhone, with no or bad network coverage, or when abroad. No roaming charges. No network or WiFi required! Have all your maps and POI with you, any time, anywhere. Getting around in a city has never been so easy and so much fun!”

City Maps 2Go

NAVIGON – “With the NAVIGON MobileNavigator you can transform your iPhone into a fully functional mobile navigation system that is every bit as good as the multi-award-winning personal navigation devices from NAVIGON in terms of its user-friendliness and features.”

Social Travel & Location Games

Make traveling a social experience! Whether you’re into checking in or playing games, these apps will make your summer travel a lot more fun.

Gowalla – “Gowalla is a social travel guide and passport on your phone. It’s a fun and social way to keep up with your friends, record your memories, share photos and highlights, and discover your city and the world around you. Plus, Gowalla is available EVERYWHERE, so you’ll be able to record your adventures wherever you go. Gowalla will even keep track of all the cities, states and countries you visit.”

Trover – “Trover is a social network that lets you share discoveries with friends and fellow explorers in a fun, visual way – all based on your location.”

Trover

foursquare – “foursquare helps you explore the world around you. Keep up with friends, get insider tips, and unlock discounts and rewards. ”

Kickball! – “Completely redesigned from the ground up, the newest version of Kickball brings a few more goodies. Twitter: Now you can use a full Twitter client with maps alongside your Foursquare account. Facebook: See a feed of your friend data.”

Footprints – “With Footprints, you can track and share locations with your friends and family anytime, privately. It all happens automatically, whether your phone is in your hand or in your pocket. All in a beautifully clear and simple interface. Now, family and friends can locate each other, parents can keep track of their children’s whereabouts, couples can know that their loved ones arrived safely at their destination, and managers can keep track of employees in the field.”

Loopt – “Loopt gives you the inside scoop wherever you go See what locals think, find your friends and get rewarded!”

Shaloc – “Shaloc helps you quickly share your GPS location with your friends, your friends can then track your location as you move in real time.”

Squawk! – “Squawk! allows you to share your movements on a map with friends and family. We’re not talking about ‘occasional updates’ like apps you’ve seen before – we’re talking about real time tracking. You’ll see where your friends are & which way they’re going. You can find friends using public channels (like a walkie-talkie) or send them invites through email. ”

Squawk!

Ladidude – “A perfect companion to the Google Latitude app. Ladidude supports various background modes to update your location as you move. ”

SCVNGR – “SCVNGR is a game about going places, doing challenges and earning points. You’ll discover cool new places to go, find fun new things to do and share your activity with your friends.”

Geopoly – “Buy real stores, cafes, shopping centers and anything else next to you, even the White House. Collect rent, upgrade buildings, get points and become the richest man in you area!”

Traveler’s Quest – “Traveler’s Quest is a must-have iPhone classic. It’s the incredibly simple, yet insanely addictive virtual treasure hunt where the world is your game board, and your iPhone’s GPS is the key! Travel around town, or around the world playing this new and innovative combination of a real world treasure hunt, with virtual treasures right on your iPhone!”

Traveler

Seek ’n Spell – “Combining outdoor spaces with virtual letters, Seek ’n Spell uses your GPS to create a new type of game. The object is to gather virtual letters by running around an outdoor space and, then, to win points by spelling words with the letters you collect. All of this is done in a race against the clock!”

Miscellaneous

From currency converters to cheap gas finders, this is a small collection of utilities that you should consider loading up on before you brave your summer travel.

GasBuddy – “Find the cheapest gas on the go – for free! In one click, locate gas stations near you and see their current gas prices. Never overpay for gas again. For every gas price reported, you’ll earn points toward prize give-away entries. We give away a $250 gas gift card every week. GasBuddy is a community of users working together to update gas prices – help everyone save on gas! ”

Viator – “Planning a trip or already on one? Viator connects you to 9,000 unforgettable tours and experiences around the world, as well as more than 250,000 unbiased traveler reviews and photos. Research and book tours from a trusted global resource quickly and easily (even at the last minute) directly from your iPhone.”

Viator

Word Lens – “Instantly translate printed words from one language to another with your built-in video camera, in real time!”

Airbnb – “Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace that connects you with people who have space for rent. The award-winning Airbnb App allows everyone to list, discover, and book any of these distinctive spaces – from a private apartment to a private island – directly from your iPhone or iPod Touch. ”

GateGuru – “GateGuru is the leading day-of travel application that covers over 120 airports across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. We have created GateGuru to serve as a valuable resource from the minute you leave on your day of travel to the minute you arrive at your destination. The application allows you to view your Tripit and KAYAK itineraries, view / post airport security wait times and see a structured list of airport food, shops and services – including over 20,000 reviews and tips and 4,000 photos from fellow travelers on airports, terminals, and airport amenities!”

World Clock Pro – “World Clock Pro allows you to select an unlimited number of world cities to be displayed. You are able to view a wide selection of world cities on three different ways.”

World Clock Pro

Campwhere – “Campwhere is an application that provides detailed information on all 9,500 public campgrounds in the United States and Canada. All campgrounds that have camping, hiking, trekking, outdoor activities are presented on a searchable geo-locatable map.”

Currencies – “Convert more than 130 currencies on your iPhone and iPod touch. Sleek design, easy to use. Who ever said a currency converter had to be boring and ugly?”

Trip Journal – “Trip Journal allows you to document vacation experiences and share them with your friends and family. Impress everybody with real time updates from the visited destinations and let people see proof of your latest adventures, as your journey unfolds.”

Day Recorder Pro – “Day Recorder Pro is diary app. Record your day life with Photo, Voice Record and GPS! It records the events that daily happen around the users and their moving route like GPS information through the various iPhone’s features, so that the recorded data can be played on iPhone screen and also be downloaded from PC to be replayed on Web browser(HTML). In particular, the GPS log data can be played on Google Earth after the download from iPhone application if you need.”

My TSA – “My TSA gives you 24/7 access to information that passengers frequently request from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). ”

PrimoSpot – “Available in NYC, Boston, and Seattle, PrimoSpot is like many apps in one: the ONLY app with on-street parking and garage rate comparisons, plus bike rack locations. PrimoSpot can also help you remember where you parked, and find your way back!”

PrimoSpot

Commander Compass – “Commander Compass is practical and fun compass and a powerful toolkit for the outdoors. Commander Compass features a milspec compass, gyrocompass, maps, GPS tracker, speedometer, gyro horizon and inclinometer. Tag, share, find and track your position, multiple locations and bearings, all in real time.”

AddVenture – “Share all your great trips, quickly, easily with AddVenture. Whether you’re going for a one hour dog walk or a multi-day expedition, this app tracks all of your exciting events and lets you share them with others. Add notes, maps, voice memos, photos and movies, all with just a tap or two to your screen.”

Lokadot – “Lokadot (pronounced “low” + “kuh” + “dote”) meaningfully re-connects listeners to their surroundings with relevant audio about the places they inhabit and visit, while not getting in the way of the music they love. The lokadot iPhone application pulls from a cloud-based database into which crowd-sourced audio files are uploaded, geo-tagged and then serendipitously streamed to your iPhone. You will find that most audio files are also accompanied by a photo, title, location information and a URL for more information.”

What Apps Are You Bringing?

The apps above should be more than enough to get you through all of your summer travel without worrying too much about getting lost, finding the best prices or ending up at too many lame tourist spots.

Leave a comment below and let us know which apps you won’t go without this summer!

Remember the days before cell phones when you called your best friend, who also happened to be your next-door neighbor, on a good old fashioned Walkie-Talkie? The only thing that stood in your way in planning to take over the neighborhood playground for an all-out water balloon war was battery life (nothing has changed there) and interference (reception still sucks, thanks AT&T).

The nice folks over at HeyTell took all the great things about Walkie-Talkies and turned them into a rather useful app for those of us wishing for simpler times. With HeyTell, you don’t have to waste five minutes trying to find that perfect spot in your house where your call won’t drop. Instead, record a message, and send it. Essentially, HeyTell offers instant voice messaging at its finest. Find out more after the jump.

Hey! It’s Time to HeyTell

After downloading the app, you are asked to select yourself from your contact list. Easy enough, right? Well, I wasn’t in my own contact list (weird) so I had to go ahead and add myself.

Next choose your victim, err … friend in your contacts list either by typing it in the search box or opening up your address book. After selecting the contact, an invitation to join your HeyTell network will pop up in an email interface. When they accept, HeyTell will automatically add them to your “Friends” tab in your contacts list, making it exceedingly easy to determine who is available to chat.

The default home page shows recent conversations and links to contact list and HeyTell friends list

HeyTell’s design is very user-friendly, with its big, orange “Hold and Speak” button taking up the bottom 1/4 of the screen. The app is sleek with no clutter, enabling the user to get down to business without fussing with settings.

The “Recent Conversations” message center reads like a typical voicemail inbox with date/time under the sender or recipient’s name and a disclosure indicator to open up a screen showing all conversations with the particular individual, which are saved and can be played when offline.

When you receive a new message, a push notification will be sent, or if you are already in the app, the message will play automatically (which has led to some interesting sideways glances when in public). And while you can’t email voice messages that you have received, you can email your own recorded pearls of wisdom. This feature is highly useful when needing a quick way to record notes and thoughts that need to be emailed to a particular group of people.

HeyTell offers geo-locating between friends

In addition to offering an easy way to connect without being dependent on the temperamental service zones, HeyTell allows the user to use geo-locating to see where their friend is currently located. (This would have made strategic positioning so much easier in our annual capture the flag.) While neat, this feature isn’t absolutely necessary, and personally, I often have it turned off.

Hey, What Are These Extras For?

While the app is free, the extras are not.

Extras include the ability to decorate your HeyTell name with Emoji icons, change your voice with their aptly named “Voice Changer,” wipe messages automatically from HeyTell, and “Group Broadcast,” which out of all the extras, I believe to be the most valuable. With “Group Broadcast” users are able to create two different kinds of groups of up to 25 friends. One is more like a giant chatroom, and the other utilizes a broadcast method, where messages can be sent to large groups.

How Does HeyTell Compete?

There are a few alternatives to HeyTell on the market, but honestly, I think this is the best investment (as in free) for the easy-to-use basic functionality of a “push-to-talk” app. Two similar apps are CloudTalk and TalkBox, which offer video and photo sharing in addition to instant voice messaging. While these features are handy, I honestly love the simplicity and single-minded reliability of HeyTell.

That’s the End, My HeyTell Friends

Released last year in February and marketed as a social networking app by Voxilate, HeyTell provides a free cross-platform, easy-to-use alternative to voicemails and text messages for iPhone, iPod Touch and Android.

The easy-to-use design makes this app perfect to use in a day-to-day basis, such as when you are creating a shopping list for your significant other, making your friends jealous with the awesome acoustics at a live show, or carrying on a conversation while in the middle of doing other activities. It is also more reliable (at least in San Francisco) than phone calls when on the move through dreaded “drop zones.”

Overall, I think this app is perfect for anyone who wants a playful and easy-to-use voice messenger in their app arsenal.

Focusing on their target goal, which is to provide free push-to-talk functionality, HeyTell has hit the nail on the head. HeyTell is reminiscent of childhood antics and has helped me out a number of times when I don’t have service and don’t have time to type out a fully-fledged conversation. The app could only be improved if they offer more opportunities for users to share videos and photos and integrating social networking.

When you first get an iPhone, typing on a touchscreen feels very novel and new, but after a dozen or so text messages, the novelty wears off. Typing on the iphone can quickly become a frustrating experience, and until (if ever) the iPhone integrates an alternative typing system (like Swype for Android), we’re stuck trying to make the best of a bad situation.

The default writing environments, such as Notes or Mail, don’t make matters easier with their cluttered interfaces and small writing spaces. WriteRoom by Hog Bay Software is an attempt to make writing on your iphone into a less painful experience, adding features such as full screen writing and cloud sync. Read on to find out if WriteRoom can make writing on your iphone less of a chore!

Writing in WriteRoom

When you open up a new document in WriteRoom, the app looks like any other iPhone writing environment, with the status and header bars at the top. You can go full-screen by pinching open (the standard “zoom” gesture), and edit a previously created document by double-tapping. To lock the orientation of your iPhone, shake your phone until the dialog box comes up.

From here, writing in WriteRoom is much like you would expect: there are no distractions — and no features. There are no text formatting options, and the top menu can only be accessed when you pinch closed to exit full-screen mode. You can access document and sharing options by hitting “done” on the menu bar, and then clicking the “share” button. This brings up a menu that lets you delete, rename or email a document, or view statistics (such as word and character count). I’m not sure I like the differentiated view/edit modes, because when you’re in edit mode, it’s not obvious that there are options available. I always feel like I’d like to be able to rename the document while I’m in edit mode.

Default and full-screen writing mode

I also find the choice of icons in WriteRoom to be less than ideal:  the document options menu is triggered from an icon that usually indicates sharing options (though I think technically is supposed to indicate “actions”).

Syncing Your Documents

WriteRoom syncs with a service called simpletext.ws, which features a very minimal web interface and a Mac app that behaves somewhat like Dropbox, adding a folder to your User directory. Though the web app syncs consistently, I found the Mac sync folder didn’t update as quickly. The nice thing about simpletext.ws is that you can sign in using your existing Google account.

The simpletext.ws web interface

The developer says that Dropbox integration is eventually planned, so you could view simplenote.ws as a temporary fix. As such, it works well enough, but the Mac app doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence, especially if you’re working with important documents.

Wi-Fi Sharing

WriteRoom also allows you to share your documents over Wi-Fi using Bonjour. I was skeptical about this process, because I’ve never really found any useful purpose for Bonjour, but the Wi-Fi service works quite well.

To access your WriteRoom files, enable Wi-Fi sharing in the iPhone app by clicking the icon in the top left corner of the document list screen. Open up the bookmark manager in Safari, and select the Bonjour tab. If everything is working correctly, you should see “WriteRoom Documents” as a bookmark.

Sharing with Bonjour

The Wi-Fi sharing interface is pretty much identical to the simpletext.ws interface (retro Apple-inspired). The only difference between the two sharing methods is that the Wi-Fi sharing doesn’t put your documents in the cloud, so Wi-Fi sharing could be more secure (so long as you set up a password for the app).

Customization

WriteRoom allows you to customize the appearance of your writing environment, letting you control text and background colour, font and text size. WriteRoom also features support for TextExpander if you have it installed on your iPhone, and the ability to toggle its integration.

My customized writing environment

Conclusion

I’m a fan of minimalist writing apps on my Mac. I currently use ByWord or just TextEdit, so I predictably enjoyed the similar environment on my iPhone. Though I still find writing on my iPhone to be a bit irritating, WriteRoom is definitely a huge improvement over Notes.

There are some interface and usability issues with WriteRoom that I mentioned before, but the app is so simple that you quickly get used to the interactions. However, for such a minimalistic app — without an ideal syncing solution — I think $4.99 is a bit steep. Similar apps like Write 2 also offer full-screen writing mode and sync, for a lower price ($1.99).

I think WriteRoom definitely has potential, not to mention an already enthusiastic user base. Once the sync solution is improved, I could see myself using WriteRoom to jot down ideas that come to me when I’m away from my computer. What are your thoughts on writing on the iPhone? Do you think typing on a touch screen can ever be a pleasant experience?

We’ve collected the top four reviews, roundups and how-to articles from across the AppStorm network in July. Whether you’re interested in Mac, iPhone, iPad, Web, or Android apps, there’s bound to be something you didn’t spot over the course of the month. Now would be a good time to explore a part of the AppStorm Network you’ve never seen before!

Thanks for reading AppStorm, and I hope you enjoy looking over some of our favourite posts from last month!

Best of iPad.AppStorm

Best of Android.AppStorm

Best of iPhone.AppStorm

Best of Web.AppStorm

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Share Your Ideas

Is there something in particular you’d like to see on the site next month? We’d absolutely love to hear your suggestions for articles, topics and giveaways. Just let us know in the comments. Thanks for reading AppStorm!

Trevor Sheridan sent us a note earlier today, asking if we’d look at his blog post about encountering Apple ID limits with iOS devices. Although Trevor just now encountered this issue, the policy actually went into effect a couple of months ago, back in June.

When you use Apple’s new multi-device download feature, you will be limited to a total of 10 devices and computers, each authorized with the same Apple ID. What’s more, once a device or computer has been assigned to an Apple ID, it cannot be reassigned for 90 days. Apple’s Knowledge Base support article details how you can deauthorize devices, and how to check the wait time before they can be re-assigned.

Naturally, this is bad news for anyone who shares an iPhone or other iOS device with a loved one and who switches around the Apple ID accordingly. Once an Apple ID is authorized for media downloads, that authorization is going to stick for a few months at least.

At some point, Apple is going to have to start seriously re-evaluating how real life meets Apple ID accounts, in terms of separating data within a family. Some examples: keeping only kid-friendly material on certain devices, even when iCloud backups and data sharing are in force (also known as the “cheating spouse outed by iCloud” scenario), joining data between adults (marriage and cohabitation), and when joint accounts need to be split (divorce and separation).

For now, all authorization decisions seem to be motivated more by rights management than day-to-day practicalities. This new policy indicates that Apple continues to be a little tone-deaf when it comes to human relationships and how people really use their iOS devices.

Think about the Duggars or the children of divorce; when newly-single Dad buys the kids an iPod, whose account do they get to use? It may seem tangential to drag all this into a write-up about a new Apple DRM protection policy, but these are the real world challenges that make these policies more than a minor annoyance.

Apple ID account/device limits gain attention originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 09 Aug 2011 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We last saw the Bigstream device back at CES earlier this year, but it’s out and available now and I got to plug one in and see how it worked on my home television. The result? It worked out OK, with a couple of issues.

The biggest issue is compatibility with apps, because setup is very straightforward. The device comes with two pieces — a receiver with a power cord and video cable that goes to any standard RCA composite video connection, and a wireless transmitter that plugs directly into your iPhone (or iPod touch, or iPad, though I did all of my testing on an iPhone 4). Turn both on (unfortunately, both have to be manually powered on, though presumably the receiver could stay on) and set them to the same of three channels, and then any video out signal from your iDevice will go straight to the TV. Note that the only option for plugging in to the TV is currently the RCA cable — HDMI and S-Video aren’t available.

Unfortunately, most apps that I tried simply aren’t compatible, and though Bigstream does have a list of compatible apps on their page, there are a few that still didn’t work for me.

Specifically I couldn’t get The Incident to work — it’s listed as compatible for video out on the iPhone 4, but all I could find was an option to use it as a controller when connected to an iPad. Strange, especially since that’s the actual app that we saw at Bigstream’s booth at CES.

I did get the YouTube app to work pretty well, though the quality was off, probably because YouTube quality isn’t that great to begin with. And the Netflix app worked particularly well — there were a few audio and video glitches during setup (the transmitter’s dock connection can cause some issues if jiggled around), but once the streaming ran over WiFi, the Netflix picture looked pretty good, and the whole rig ran great.

In other words, Bigstream’s compatibility presents some issues — you can’t just load up your favorite game or app and stream it right off to the television, unless you can somehow convince your favorite developer to stream the video out. But fortunately, the apps that Bigstream is compatible with do have some promise, and give the unit a lot of functionality already.

For example, if you’re on the road often and want to watch Netflix on something a little bigger than your iPhone’s screen, I can see carrying the Bigstream unit around with you, plugging it in to a hotel room TV, and then using it wherever you go. Likewise, though I wasn’t able to try any of this software specifically, it seems like it would work well for presentations, allowing you to plug in to any television with an extra power cord and RCA hookup, and put whatever you need on a larger viewscreen (though of course I’d recommend you test it first to make sure everything works). Keynote, in particular, should be well-suited to this task.

As for home use, Bigstream would work (maybe if you don’t already have a device plugged in to your television to run Netflix and other streaming video apps), but it’s a hacky way to implement functionality that you could get with cables from Apple. If all you want is Netflix and YouTube on your TV screen, an Apple TV will give you that, and in even better resolution. Unless there’s an app that you specifically need to use, and it happens to be compatible with Bigstream’s device, there’s not really much to recommend you running video out of your iOS device rather than just a dedicated box for that at home.

Bigstream’s unit costs $99, so it’s a fairly significant investment for what it is. It definitely works as advertised — if you need to send video out from your compatible iPhone app to any television just by hooking up a few cables, Bigstream pulls that off well and with a minimum of fuss. Just be sure you know ahead of time what you’re trying to do it with it; the system seems to work better as a portable device built for specific uses rather than a general household tool.

Bigstream sends video from iOS to almost any TV originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 08 Aug 2011 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple has filed a response brief to Lodsys, who responded to Apple’s intervention in the patent suit two weeks ago. Around the same time, the suit was expanded to include big-name iOS developers such as Rovio, EA, Atari, Take-Two Interactive and Square Enix. Lodsys has filed an opposition brief trying to convince the courts that Apple has no basis to intervene in Lodsys’s patent suit against third-party iOS developers.

Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents says that Apple still wants a court hearing on the intervention motion. He’s uploaded the brief to Scribd and provided a brief summary of the arguments Apple provided to tear apart Lodsys’s claims.

At the heart of the matter is Apple’s assertion that if it doesn’t intervene, it could lead to a boycott of some of Apple’s core products by app developers. Apple also asserts that despite some of the recent big-name additions to the suit being able to defend themselves, “none of the defendants have the technical information, expertise, and knowledge regarding how Apple’s technology works or the negotiation and intent of the License itself to fully articulate and develop Apple’s exhaustion defense. […] This distinction alone is sufficient.”

Apple insists it has right to intervene in Lodsys patent suit originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 08 Aug 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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